


Unsteady

by skeleteen



Series: non-human stiles fics [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Based on a Tumblr Post, Derek Feels Guilty, F/M, Ghost Laura Hale, Grumpy Derek, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Medium Stiles, One Shot, Post Hale Fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 15:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5502530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeleteen/pseuds/skeleteen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is a professional medium. Ghosts usually respect the rules, number one being: "If your family wants to talk to you, they'll contact me. If not, back off.", but the Hale's are irritatingly persistent.</p><p>☆</p><p>"God, are you Derek Hale?" Stiles grabs onto the leather sleeve of the brooding man's coat, his eyes begging.</p><p>His full eyebrows furrow, "Who's asking?"</p><p>"Laura, Cora - oh man, Talia won't shut up." His lanky body turns ninety degrees and he waves his hands aggressively. "I get it, mama wolf! I know it's him, I was just asking to be polite! You should try it sometime!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unsteady

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Sterek Prompt](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/164048) by briecheesie.tumblr.com. 



> This is a little rough around the edges, but I was so excited by the tumblr prompt that I just had to write this. Only Talia, Laura, and Cora are ghosts, assuming that ghosts are only in that state until they are at peace with how they left the human realm.

“For the last time, I don’t contact people, they contact me.” Stiles huffs at the transparent woman at the end of his bed. “You’re welcome to show yourself out, just as you let yourself in.”

She wrinkles her nose, spinning on her heels and crying out, “ _Mom_!”

“You can’t play the mom card on me!” He calls after her, climbing out from underneath his warm bedsheets, “Mine is way past the ghost realm – I’ll find a way to contact her and then we can see how _you_ like being haunted!”

When he strolls into his kitchen, he’s unsurprised to find a whole family making themselves at home. He ignores their presence, however, and moves to make himself a cup of coffee.

“I miss coffee.” A girl slightly older than the one who barged into Stiles’ bedroom sighs.

“Bet you don’t miss being tired.” He mumbles into his mug, slumping into one of the many chairs around his dining table.

“We miss everything about life – make no mistake.” An older woman – the mother, Stiles assumed– lends him a sad smile.

“Why are you not following standard medium protocol?” Stiles ignores the burning instinct to help out a person in need, reminding himself of the rules.

She chews her bottom lip nervously before speaking, “My son, these girl’s brother, isn’t going to reach out to a medium any time soon. We died in a fire that he believes to be his fault–”

“–because he’s an idiot.” The bedroom girl rolls her eyes. “And shouldn’t we introduce ourselves?”

“I’m Stiles.” He supplies, an amused smile creeping onto his cheeks.

“My name is Talia Hale, these are my daughters Cora,” She points to the girl who just spoke, “and Laura,” She moves her finger to the older girl, “and we need you to contact my son, Derek.”

“So, Derek harbours some unwarranted guilt and it’s keeping you in the ghost realm.” He pauses and waits for Talia to nod before continuing, “That’s what the ghost realm is about. Pain. Reflection.”

“You don’t get it.” Laura speaks up, anger radiating from her body in white steam. “He was the only family member to survive. Cora stayed home from school and some rogue hunter set out house on fire, lined with mountain ash, while Derek was gone. She knew him! She had preyed on his innocent mind, making him feel loved, only to kill his entire family!”

Stiles doesn’t try to stop his eyebrows from raising or his jaw from dropping slightly at the confession. He pauses before responding, “So, werewolves, huh? Does that make him a packless Alpha?”

“He’s picked up a few teenagers along the way from our home territory to New York, but without closure he’s never going to be what they need.” Cora shrugs. “You’re one of the only werewolf-friendly mediums in this city, believe it or not.”

Stiles sighs. “I hate it when the ghosts are morally sound, it makes me break the rules.”

He doesn’t miss the glimmer of hope shine in the girls eyes.

☆

“That’s him.” Talia points to a tall brick of muscle, eyebrows, and masculine energy.

“Oh hell no.” Stiles mutters. “You didn’t tell me he was bleeding testosterone! He looks like he would kill me for complimenting his shoes!”

“C’mon, Stiles, we need you.” Cora whines. “And we hate needing people.”

Stiles stands up from the café chair and jogs out the door when Derek Hale takes his coffee to go, calling after him.

“Hey, wait! Don’t get in your car, your mom will kill me.” He pants.

“What?” He sneers, and Stiles ignores his self preservation skills and trots forward.

"God, are you Derek Hale?" Stiles grabs onto the leather sleeve of the brooding man's coat, his eyes begging.

His full eyebrows furrow, "Who's asking?"

"Laura, Cora - oh man, Talia won't shut up." His lanky body turns ninety degrees and he waves his hands aggressively. "I get it, mama wolf! I know it's him, I was just asking to be polite! You should try it sometime!"

Talia smiles lightly and Stiles rolls his eyes. “What kind of game are you playing?” He growls, and Stiles makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat.

_Definitely an Alpha wolf._

“Call him Derbear.” Laura pipes.

“Derbear?” He repeats, “Really, Laura?”

“What are you doing?” Derek’s voice broke, and Stiles winces.

“Mediums aren’t supposed to contact clients unless they make contact first – it’s one of the first things they teach you after your abilities are assessed.” He explains gently. “But the women in your family are badass, and hunted me down so we could, like, explain some things to you? I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve done this. Please don’t kill m–”

“Get in.” Derek opens the passenger seat to his Camaro with a blank expression.

“Getting in.” Stiles scrambles, shooting a smile to the gleeful looks of the Hale girls as they fabricated themselves into the car.

Derek drove for five minutes before Stiles broke the silence. “So, you’re the big kahuna?”

Derek glared.

“The Alpha?” He continued.

“I don’t know what the hell is real, so I have no idea why I’m trusting you with my pack house location, but you better not have an ulterior motive or I will rip your vocal chords out of your throat and tie them in a bow around your head.” Derek said calmly.

Talia starts laughing in a joyous tone and Stiles glances back at her.

“I suppose it makes sense that your mom would be proud of you for saying something so fucked up. You’re a family of badasses, aren’t you?”

Derek’s hands clench the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. “We were.”

☆

Stiles found himself sitting in front of all the Hale’s he knows, despite only one of them being alive.

“Uh, Talia wants you to know she’s proud.” He recites what the girls had been telling him on his walk over to Derek’s favourite café. “Cora is sorry she stayed home, she’s guilty that you were alone when it was over. Laura is really beat up about an argument you had the weeks before, about Kate–”

Derek growled at the name and Stiles continued, unphased. “None of them blame you for her, though. They want you to go to a therapist, really. You were a kid and she took advantage of your heart, you can’t blame yourself for being blinded by affection. Laura apologizes for yelling right away when she found out instead of, you know, explaining why a twenty something year old shouldn’t be hitting up young teenagers, especially if she hates their entire species.”

“I get it, I was dumb.” He growls.

Stiles raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t done talking. You’re still dumb, by the way. You blame yourself and harbour this insane amount of guilt for a woman murdering your family. I can’t make you change, but your mom and sisters were concerned enough about you to hunt – _okay, poor choice of words_ – me down and make me explain this to you. Your pack struggles when you struggle. I know Laura was meant to take over Alpha and that you’re still a scared kid in your head, but there are people who don’t want to see you mope anymore. Frankly, I just met you, and I’m fed up. You have people who love you, a lot of them, a pack of them. They deserve to see you happy.”

A tear falls down Derek’s cheek and he quickly wipes it away. “God, I miss them. I don’t know what I’m doing without them.”

“You’re doing just fine, baby.” Talia whispers.

“Your mom says you’re doing just fine.” Stiles repeats. “And she really looks like she wants to hug you, but that would be useless seeing as she’s a ghost, but I think you need one.”

Stiles stands up and walks over to Derek’s chair, holding out a hand for him to use to help him up. He takes it, and Stiles pulls him into a warm embrace.

“Thank you.” He chokes. “I wouldn’t have gone to see you on my own, so thank you.”

“I know.” He whispers soothingly. “You didn’t think you deserved forgiveness, but you got it regardless. Life works like that sometimes.”

The Hale’s figures start flickering, and Stiles knows their time in their realm is almost complete.

“They’re going to be gone soon, you know that, right?” He mumbles, pulling away from the hug.

Derek’s eyes widen. “I’ve been keeping them as ghosts for this long?”

Stiles laughs, sharing a look with the fading figure of Talia. “There is no way you are taking on any more guilt today, Mister. Anyway, I should probably–”

“Stay.” Derek interrupts, insecurity running across his face. “Completely innocently, sleep with me tonight. Your scent has this lingering feeling of home, and I just... please.”

“Yeah.” Stiles agrees softly. “Of course, yeah.”

“Thank you.” He sighs. “For more than you can ever imagine.”


End file.
